Cummins has gone mining for meaning. Last week’s Power Onward “podcast” tried to find “beauty within” and – without success – some viewers. In the latest, erm, podcast, they’ve gone subterranean with If You Can’t Grow It, You Have to Mine It, a new entry in their PR dig. It claims to connect the copper in your phone to the engines in their trucks. What it really connects is Cummins to another half-hour of self-promotion.
The Initial Hope
For a moment you think this might finally be it – the reckoning. Jennifer Rumsey, appearing as the friendlier “Jen”, on Joe Rogan, cigar in hand, shooting the breeze, and – although two years late – ready to apologise to the poisoned public. Maybe she’s found her voice. Maybe she’s found her spine.
But no again. No Jen. It’s just Kim and Guilherme.
The Premise
The episode description gushes about “essential minerals”, “remote mines”, and “how power begins long before the plug”. It’s presented as an educational chat, but it’s pure spin – a soft-focus attempt to turn resource extraction into something soulful. Guilherme reminisces about mine sites “like cities”, conveniently skipping the carbon footprint that makes them glow. Cummins’ engines, once again, are recast as saviours rather than polluters.
The Pretence
This is Cummins’ new posture: diesel with a conscience. Mining isn’t extraction anymore – it’s empowerment. Pollution is rebranded as progress. The company fined billions for emissions cheating now plays philosopher, redefining exploitation as “connection”.
The Reality
Nobody’s watching. These “podcast” videos land like stones – a few dozen plays, a few corporate likes, and then oblivion. It’s corporate therapy shot in 4K: smiling hosts talking about purpose while the company pays off regulators and paints diesel green. Every episode another exercise in saying nothing beautifully.
The Tell
The formula never changes. New face, new backdrop, new buzzwords about community and purpose. But under the soft light and steady smiles, there’s the same hollow rhythm – talking about “systems we rely on” without admitting who’s choking in their exhaust.
The Verdict
Cummins keeps digging – for copper, for credibility, for a soul that isn’t there. You can mine minerals, you can mine meaning, but you can’t mine forgiveness.
Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project
Source: If You Can’t Grow It, You Have to Mine It – Cummins Newsroom (22 Oct 2025)